Computer systems are becoming increasingly more complex and have the ability to recognize and process a variety of content types. As computer systems increase in size and capability, users are required to gain a broader understanding of such systems. Users may have difficulty navigating through multiple applications and content now available on computer systems. These systems have expanded to include a variety of computer readable media, including removable computer storage media containing a variety of data and data file formats. For example, types of media may include a variety of flash card formats including Compact Flash, Smart Media, and Memory Stick. Additionally, removable media may also include Compact Discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVD's), Zip Jaz drives, PC cards and external hot plug fixed drives. The types of content found on this media may include pictures, music files, video, music CD, DVD, and traditional computer software formats including word processing, database and spreadsheet formats.
Additionally, computer systems now have the ability to accept removable plug-in devices directly into the system architecture. Digital cameras, digital video recorders and scanners are examples of such plug and play devices. Plugging these devices into the system allows users to process information directly from the device's internal memory without having to utilize a removable memory device such as a memory stick or diskette.
Current systems typically initiate accessing media or devices in one of two ways. First, the user may access the device itself, search for the file and then select the file to run. An application will start up upon selection of that particular file and begin running or processing the files. Secondly, if the user knows the type of media or device inserted, the user may find the application and start the application. The user then searches for the particular file on the inserted media or device and selects the appropriate file that will be run by the opened application.
The above methods for accessing media and devices present various drawbacks. As mentioned above, when media or hardware devices with media content are plugged into a computer, the user typically has to select the device or search for the application on the system. If the user selects the device and opens a file, the incorrect or undesired application may inadvertently start-up. For example, the user may have initially recorded the file in one format that is associated with an application set-up by default to run a certain file format. The user may wish to edit this file using another application other than the application used to originally create the file. This results in the undesired start-up of a particular application. Thus, the user would have to select the new application before opening the file. Further, it may be difficult for users to find the desired file to open. For example, flash and CD media utilize a complex file subfolder structure to store data. Thus, users would be required to access multiple folders to find a particular file. This process is slow and requires many repetitive user steps.
Additionally, users may not know where an application resides in the system even though they know the application to select to run a certain type of content. With systems becoming larger and more complex, applications may be stored in a variety of locations on the system and it may be difficult for users to locate the executable file to run the application. This again requires the user to perform multiple steps to access a single file.
Another drawback with existing methods for accessing media and devices is that users may not know what application to select for a certain file type or device. In one case, a single file format may be accessed by multiple applications. For example, pictures in a JPG format may be opened by numerous picture viewing or editing applications. In another situation, multiple file formats, including video, music and word processing files, may be stored on mixed media storage devices such as a Zip drive. With mixed media storage devices, the user may select the incorrect application to run the particular file type. When this occurs, the user may have to initiate several applications before finding the correct application to run that particular content type. As a result, the user is performing multiple steps to properly run a certain type of file. Once again, this process is slow and requires numerous repetitive user operations.
Accordingly, there exists a need to allow a user to easily run multiple types of content media. Moreover, there is a need for such a method in system to initiate running of applications according to the content type residing on the media.